Things I learned on the Amazon Discussion Forums (the forums were on Amazon from 2007 to 2017 and I was involved with the forums from 2007 to about 2011):
1) Read and reread and edit. You don’t have to shoot from the hip. The beauty of written discourse is that you have time to think about what you want to say in your responses to others. Don’t be afraid to use the delete button.
2) You actually don’t have to respond at all. Just because someone has tagged you in a comment or a post doesn’t mean you have to invest time and energy in responding. You get to choose how you want to spend your time.
3) If you’re going to respond to someone, take the time to actually read their comment/post and try to see their perspective. See if there’s something you can learn from them.
4) Don’t be afraid to apologize if someone catches you in a mistake. Humility is a beautiful thing.
5) When possible, bring humor into the discussion, and especially don’t be afraid to laugh at your own foibles and flaws. We all have them.
6) If you find yourself launching a personal attack on someone – delete, delete, delete. Personal insults never ever ever solve anything or make anything better.
7) If you see someone being bullied, step up and come to their defense.
8 ) Do not take offense. Do not get all fluffed-up and indignant if someone disagrees with you or appears to be criticizing your beliefs. Don’t take any of that personally. People will disagree with you sometimes, and it’s okay.
9) Don’t expect everyone to have the same beliefs as you, and don’t think that they’re “stupid” if they don’t. There are as many perspectives as there are people on the planet.
(I have a whole host of talented friends who are published authors and I’m going to include links to their books below. Note that, contrary to the well-meaning posts about “buying local” that I’m seeing on social media, sometimes the only place you’ll be able to find books by local authors is on Amazon.)
Edit: Please feel free to add book links to your own books in the comments below.
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Some of my books can, apparently, only be purchased through Amazon. I see that my Cosmic Celebrations books, Cosmic Connections and Cosmic Kinship, can’t be purchased through Barnes and Noble. My book of poetry,Since Then, can’t be purchased through Barnes and Noble, either. And my latest MadcapChristian Scientist book, Looking Forward, isn’t coming up there. Here’s the Amazon link where you can find those books: https://www.amazon.com/…/Karen…/author/B0044P90RQ
My friend, William Whittenbury, also has books on Barnes and Noble, as well as Amazon. William’s books chronicle the epic adventures in an alternative history. Here’s the link to his books on Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/William%20Whittenbury
My friend, Claudia Buck, introduced me to the writing of her friend, local author Peter Randolph Keim. His book, Lanes Five and Six, was really poignant and beautiful. Here’s the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Lanes-Five-Peter…/dp/B0CLWLNR96/
My friend, Demaris Wehr, wrote a beautiul book that seems, to me, very timely: Making It Through: Bosnian Survivors Share Stories of Trauma, Transcendence, and Truth. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/…/making-it…/1138568749
Scott Bailey, the husband of my friend, Mary Metz, wrote a brilliant piece of historical fiction – scholarly, entertaining, thought-provoking – called The Astrologer. It can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Astrologer-Scott-G-F…/dp/0989970051
I went to Fred’s to get some ingredients I needed for Scotty’s annual birthday carrot cake. I got to the spice section and found a man of about my age scanning the shelves – I could tell he was looking for something and was coming up nada. I started scanning for the “allspice” that the recipe called for, but didn’t see it right away.
“This isn’t shelved alphabetically, is it?” I asked the man next to me – I now considered him my partner in the spice search. He laughed and observed that the spices seemed to be shelved randomly. I asked him what he was looking for, and he said he was looking for “sesame seeds” – but he thought maybe he should try the Asian food section. And just as he said that, I found the sesame seeds! I told him I was looking for “allspice” – and, in the next breath, I found it. I picked up the jar, looking for the ingredients – “What does allspice have in it?” I asked, and my teammate in the spice aisle said, “Cinnamon, I think, and cloves, and nutmeg.” I told my teammate that I already have all that stuff at home, so I guessed I didn’t really need to buy this. He pointed out that I was saving myself $12 by leaving it there.
Cool! “So are we all good here?” I asked him, smiling. He smiled back at me and said, “Yeah! Teamwork!”
(Edit: I now know that allspice is an actual spice all of its own – I love learning new stuff!)
As I was walking down the center aisle to the produce section a tall young Black man with dreadlocks and a ring through his nose locked eyes with me and there was just such joy in that moment that we both broke into big smiles – like we were old friends seeing each other again. We passed each other, smiling, and that smile from him is still buoying me up.
Scotty and I went to Chuckanut Manor to celebrate his birthday tonight. The sun was just starting to set when we got there and I asked the hostess to be seated by a window to watch the sunset. As we were sitting at our table we noticed half a dozen bald eagles playing tag with each other near the water. One of the servers saw I had my camera out and told me that the deck is always open and I could go out there to take photos if I wanted – and she led me to the door that opened onto the deck. The eagles flew by me and one of them landed in a tree near the restaurant. I could hear the eagles chirping to each other. I love that sound.
I came back in after taking a few pictures, but then went back out when I saw the eagles were up to their hijinks again. There was another customer out there when I went out the second time, and he told me what he’d just seen with the eagles. I pointed to the tree where the eagle was sitting and he turned to take pictures of it.
Scott and I had a lovely dinner, and when we were leaving I passed the man who had been watching eagles with me and thanked him for sharing that magic with me. He smiled and agreed that had been cool.
And now we’re eating carrot cake made with carrots from our garden, and apple sauce from Scott’s orchard, and spices I already had in my cupboard. And the best thing I brought home from Fred’s were the smiles I got there.
I am my own country, just a visitor in this one, passing through on my way to home. In my country I am enjoined to be kind, to be honest, to share, to dare to be fair, and to care for those I pass on my journey. I am my own country. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
At two in the morning on the day of the election I woke up feeling like I was riding on a collective wave of joy – like I was part of a cosmic celebration. I hadn’t had that feeling before an election since… well, I don’t think I’ve ever had that feeling before an election, so I took this feeling as a good sign – as a sign that everything was going to go as I hoped it would.
And when things didn’t go as I hoped, I found myself in a crisis, wondering if everything I believe about the power of Love and Truth is a lie. Wondering if there really is a God.
What was kind of odd, though, was that – even as I was having these dark thoughts – I could feel Love with me, loving me. But I turned away from that sense of Love-with-me and tossed and turned for a while before I finally got to sleep.
Here’s what happened today:
– The youngest son called to see how I was doing and just hearing his voice through the line – and hearing his wife’s laughter in the background – lifted me up.
– I decided to go for a hike at Lake Padden. On the way I pulled over, and put my emergency lights on, to take a picture of a reflection on Lake Samish. Before I even got out of the car, another car did a u-turn and the driver – a twenty-something with piercings on her face, and a kind smile – pulled in behind me to check on me and make sure I was alright. I was so grateful for her kindness in stopping to check on me! I felt myself lifted up a bit more.
– As I sat at a picnic table at Lake Padden, a little dog named Lock trotted over to me for a pet on his back. He sat with me for several minutes as I petted him, every now and then looking up at me with a look of pure love on his face. It was like having my own emotional support dog there, comforting me with his sweetness.
– I passed a woman named April, with her dog, Aspen. Like Lock, Aspen approached me for a scratch behind the ears. And when April and I got to talking we realized we were both processing the same election shock. Pretty soon we were joined by Judy, who also was dealing with election trauma. We gave each other a group hug, and then Judy let us know that there was a young woman sitting up at the picnic table who was struggling. So April and I (and Aspen) went to join the woman at the picnic table. She was wearing a gay pride rainbow hat, and she was soon joined by two friends who let us know they were from the LGBTQ community. The woman in the rainbow hat and her friends were all feeling scared and abandoned by their country. April and I let them know that they aren’t alone – that we’re standing together with them.
– When I got home I clicked into Facebook and found my friend, Jay Bowen, had posted a post about a vigil being held at the Burlington Lutheran Church. So I zipped my jacket back on and headed for the church.
I hadn’t really cried, yet, but as soon as I entered the church I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and by the time I’d seated myself on a pew I was quietly sobbing and shaking – I hadn’t know that was in me until then. A woman in the pew ahead of me turned around and it was Becky! – a parent of one of my former eigthh graders. Becky went up to the first pew and grabbed a box of tissues for me and then came back and gave me a hug. Not long after I saw Becky, I recognized another friend, Kaci – who was seated in the second row. I approached Kaci and touched her arm, and when she turned around and saw me, her eyes opened wide and she reached out for a hug. We cried healing tears together for a couple of minutes, before I returned to my pew.
The speakers in the Lutheran church spoke of allowing people to mourn in their own way; spoke of the courage and endurance that have overcome tribulation in the past; spoke of the importance of community and family; spoke of the importance of appreciating every breath and moment; spoke of not letting ayone take our smiles and humor; and spoke of a loving God whose intent isn’t to bring us doom, but to bring healing to us and through us.
It was comforting to be with other people today who were dealing with the same things I’m dealing with.
And now, sitting here, I realize the message the Cosmos has been sending me all day: “You are not alone. The world is full of people (and pups) who care. You are loved.” And maybe that’s all the reason I need to celebrate with the Cosmos. Maybe the wave of joy I felt early in the morning on election day had nothing to do with the election, and everything to do with divine Love. Love is not dependent on human circumstances, and we can never be separated from it. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Go out there and live this day like this is the last day you have to live. Show kindness with wild abandon. Look for every opportunity to express Love. Share laughter with people in desperate need of a good laugh. Lift hearts. Bring joy. Give hope. Let every hour be your finest hour. Treasure every moment you’ve been given.
Truth is the only power and presence – the Creator of all that is real. Love fills all space, reaching to infinity. Life is infinite and universal and eternal. All that Love creates expresses Love. All that Life creates manifests infinite Life. All that Truth creates is the reflection of Truth. All that is good comes from God, and God is all. All is good.
We are the image and likeness of Love; the reflection of Truth; the manifestation of Life; the children of the one Mind. We are the expressions of Good, God.
The belief that we can feel fear, anger, hate, or confusion is a lie for we are made by divine Mind and all we can feel is what divine Mind feels. There isn’t the teensiest, tiniest part of us that can feel fear or anger or hate because we are made wholly in the image and likeness of divine Mind. The belief that we have our own little mortal mind is a lie. Mortal mind is no part of our real identities as God’s children. Fear is no part of us. Hate is no part of us. We were made by Love and for Love, and anything that’s not of Love is a lie and has nothing to do with us.
God – Life, Truth, Love – governs the universe in perfect, indestructible harmony. God governs Her creation with the unfailing, unceasing, irrepressible, unstoppable, insurmountable power of Love. The belief that God’s government can be usurped is a lie for nothing can usurp Love’s governing of Her own creation. Nothing has the power to usurp Truth’s government.
Feel the presence and power of Love enfolding you in Her loving embrace. You are safe. You are loved. You are Her precious child, never separated from all that is good. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
A month or so ago an old student of mine from Emerson High School texted me to see if we could meet for coffee. I was surprised, but not, to hear from Hector.
I’d been thinking of him – remembering the time we’d been taking turns reading out loud from an astronomy book, and he’d read a passage that said something like: “The stars you see in the night sky are bringing you a story from thousands of years ago.” His head had popped up and his eyebrows had come together in a puzzled frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he’d asked.
I told him that the light we see from the stars took thousands of years to reach us – so we’re not seeing the light from the stars as they are right now – we’re seeing the light from the stars as they were thousands of years ago.
His eyebrows lifted then and his eyes got huge. “WHOAH. That’s CRAZY!” he’d exclaimed. And then he’d started talking about how cool it would be to be an astronaut.
I hadn’t seen Hector for several years and was wondering how he was doing – hoping all was well with him – so when he’d texted out of the blue, it felt like a cosmic coincidence to me.
We arranged to meet today at Whidbey Coffee in Burlington. And oh! It was so good to see Hector again! He is a remarkable young man.
We hugged and I bought us coffees (he told me I didn’t need to buy his coffee for him, but I insisted) and we settled into a couple of comfortable chairs near the window. And for the next two hours we talked and laughed and got caught up. Hector’s life has changed a lot since I last saw him. He felt the need to make a new start for himself and moved to Seattle to work with his brother in carpentry.
He loves his work as a carpenter – he showed me the houses he’d helped build – he said he did everything in building the houses except the drywalling. He’s excited about all he’s learning on his job. He showed me photos and videos from his backpacking trips – he said he found a group of friends in Seattle who introduced him to hiking and rock-climbing – and he’s totally hooked on outdoors adventures now. Last summer, he told me, he hiked 25 miles in one day in the Enchantments. I told him I’d backpacked there years ago with a friend, and remembered how beautiful it was. He showed me his photos from the trip – and his photos showed his talent for capturing the beauty around him.
Then Hector told me that he’s gotten big into jujitsu – trains for competitions – and during the course of his training he discovered one of his favorite sparring partners was a pastor at a church in Seattle. And in connecting with this pastor he found a church community and found God. He was so excited about all he’s learning about God’s love, and so eager to share what he’s learned.
He said one of his favorite passages in the Bible is the one about building your house on sand. When we’d talked about Hector’s carpentry, we’d talked about the importance of a house being “plumb” – if the first floor is plumb, square, and level then the floors above the first floor will be, too. So the parable of the house built on the sand means something to Hector, the carpenter. He said if you build a house on the sand you can keep adding on to it – floor after floor – more and more – and it can be a 10-story house, but if that first floor is built on sand then it’s all going to come down in a windstorm. You need to build your foundation on the rock, he said – on God.
I told him it seemed that God had been leading him to this spiritual place, and he smiled and nodded and agreed. He asked me, then, about my own experience with God – and, for the first time – because he’s no longer my student – I felt free to share my own spiritual journey with him.
I asked Hector what had led him to text me. He thought for a moment and then said that he’d had struggles in high school, hadn’t really liked school until he came to me as a contract-based student, working with me one-on-one. He said he felt heard when he was with me. He felt safe. He felt loved.
I started tearing up then. The Cosmos knew what I needed today – and the Cosmos sent me Hector. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
I’ve been debating with myself if I should put this out there – most of us have probably already voted by now, and I’m pretty sure nothing I write here is going to make any difference anyway. But… on the flip side, I think I’d have a hard time living with myself if I didn’t say something. So. Yeah. Here goes.
I’m pretty sure the swing states are getting bombarded with a lot of political ads that never reach us here in Washington State. But every now and then – usually when we’re watching some nationally-televised sports show – one will pop up. And there’s this one I’ve seen a couple of times now that triggers something in me every time – and I don’t think I’m triggered in the way the politician who sponsored the ad expects me to be triggered.
This ad shows this tall, masculine-looking athlete playing sports on a women’s team. And then the narrator says this: “Kamala’s for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
And that, right there, is just so…. just writing this I’m finding myself triggered again. “Us versus them.” This is the language of haters. This is the language that politicians use to divide us, and to incite violence in us. This is the language politicians use to bring the fearful and ignorant to their flag. This is bigotry, pure and simple. And it scares me for the safety of my LGBTQ friends.
I’m a Boomer AND a former English teacher who, in the olden days, spent time correcting my students’ improper use of the words “they” and “them” – “they” is the plural I’d tell my students and “her” is the singular. I grew up in a generation of people in which society was divided into male and female – and, being a heterosexual female who’s always felt female-ish, I never really thought too much beyond society’s binary system for the sexes. I had friends and acquaintances in the olden days who I knew were gay, but it was never a big deal to me who other people were attracted to and it never occurred to me that I should hate anyone or judge them because of their sexual orientation.
Now, as time has gone on and my circle of friendships has grown, I also have had the opportunity to develop friendships with several transgender people – in the case of my friends, they were assigned the label of “female” when they were born, but have never FELT female, and self-identify as male. And, in recent years, I have witnessed my friends – good, caring, kind, brave people – become more urgent in their cries for help as they’re bullied, threatened, legislated against, and hated on.
And I’m scared for their safety.
So when I see that poltical ad from the Trump campaign, targeting transgender people, I’m triggered. Feeding the fear and hate – feeding the “feargnorance” in others – is shameful and low. It’s despicable. That ad validates, for me, that I voted for the right person by NOT voting for Trump.
Shouldn’t our president be for ALL of us?
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one and the same in Christ Jesus.“ – Galatians 3:28
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 